Connector for water stop material or the like



A ril 22, 1969 J. R. M AUSLAND 9,

CONNECTOR FOR'WATER STOP MATERIAL OR THE LIKE r Filed July 26. 1966 l6as mvmon JOHN R. McAUSLAND wg mwvfa/Mjmwmmim Y, ATTORNEYS United StatesPatent 3,439,592 CONNECTOR FOR WATER STOP MATERIAL OR THE LIKE John R.McAusland, 222 St. Ives Drive, Severna Park, Md. 21146 Filed July 26,1966, Ser. N0. 568,064 Int. Cl. E01c 11/12; E04f 15/14; F16b 7/00 U.S.Cl. 94-18 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A connector for joiningtogether in end-to-end relationship strips of flexible water stopmaterial, the connectors comprising a pair of mating members adapted tosandwich the abutting ends of the strips between them across the joint,the upper member having downwardly extending bosses projecting throughmating holes in the water stop material and in the lower mating member,the members and water stop material being joined together by pressuresensitive adhesive.

Detailed description This invention relates to connectors for joiningtogether in end-to-end relationship strips of indefinite length and moreparticularly to an improved connector for joining together the adjacentends of flexible water stop material utilized for sealing joints betweenadjacent construction members.

Though susceptible of other applications, the present invention isparticularly adapted for use in connecting together the ends offlexible, rubbery water stop material which may be of the type disclosedin the patent to Wangerow, No. 2,867,160. The water stop connectordisclosed in that patent comprises a sleeve centrally divided by atransverse web to provide a pair of sockets into which the ends of thewater stop material are inserted after all of the contacting surfaces ofthe connector and of the strips have been coated with a suitableadhesive material. The transverse Web of the Wangerow patent is said toaid in maintaining the sockets open but wherever sleeve type connectorsare employed the top and bottom walls almost invariably collapse uponthemselves and this provides problems.'For example, not only is itdiflicult to coat the interior of sleeves with a suitable cement, butwhere the sleeves have been in collapsed condition for a sufiicient timeto achieve a set, unless an operator is very careful after the socketshave been coated the walls thereof can collapse into each other wherethey are immediately almost inseparably joined together and the sleevebecomes useless. Even if the sleeve is not ruined for the above reason,cement on the interior of the sleeve and on the exterior of the waterstop strip will often prevent full insertion of the strip end into thesleeve or, after the strip has been only partially inserted the adhesivewill bond the parts inseparably together so that only part of the sleeveoperates as a connector.

The broad object of the present invention is to provide an improvedconnector which overcomes the disadvantages of prior art connectors ofthe type described.

A more particular object of the invention is to provide a connector forconnecting together in end-to-end relationship flexible rubbery stripmaterial by the use of a pair of matching members which sandwich betweenthem the ends of the strip material after all of the contacting surfaceshave been coated with a suitable adhesive, thus avoiding all of theproblems attendant upon an attempt to insert an adhesively coated endinto a socket whose interior walls have also been adhesively coated.

A still more specific object of the invention is to provide a connectorfor connecting together the ends of flexiice ble water stop material notonly by the use of adhesively coated mating members but also by the useof mechanical elements which cooperate with the ends of the strips andalso the mating elements to aid in the connection of the members.

Other objects and their attendant advantages will become apparent as thefollowing detailed description is read in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a broken perspective view showing the manner of use of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is similar to FIG. 1 and illustrates a step in effecting theconnection of the ends of the strips of water stop material; and

FIG. 3 is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional view taken substantiallyon the line 33 of FIG. 1.

Referring now to the drawings the numerals 10, 12 designate sections ofwater stop material of the type having a central web 14 extendingtransversely between enlarged side edge parts 16, 1 8 which may bepartly circular in cross-section and are adapted to be imbedded inconstruction material, such as concrete on opposite sides of a jointbetween portions of construction material, as for example, at thetransverse or longitudinal joint between sections of a concrete roadway.The water stop material illustrated is known and forms no part of thepresent invention, it being the function of the latter to join togetherin strong water tight relationship the ends of two sections of thedescribed water stop material.

In accordance with the invention, the connector comprises upper andlower relatively flat, elongated members 22, 24, which are adapted whenin their position of use to extend some distance along both water stopsections on either side of the joint 26 between the section ends. Eachof the members 22, 24 has a moulded configuration conformingsubstantially to the contour of the upper and lower faces 27, 2-8 of thewater stop material with each having a respective transverse web part30, 32 and upstanding arcuate side parts 34, 36 which extend over andpartly around the edge parts 16, 18 of the water stop material. The sideparts 34, 36 are dimensioned with respect to the edge parts 16, 18 ofthe water stop material that a relatively narrow longitudinal gap 40extends along the connector sides when the parts 22, 24 are in theirposition of use. By dimensioning the side parts of the connector membersso that they do not touch, uniform engagement of the connector memberswith the surfaces of the water stop material is assured.

In accordance with the invention upper member 22 is provided withintegral vertically extending bosses 42 which are disposed on the innerside of the Web part 30 of the member 22 and arranged longitudinally sothat an equal number of bosses are disposed on opposite sides of thedividing line 26 between the ends of the water stop material asillustrated in FIG. 1. The lower member 24 of the connector is providedwith a set of preformed openings 44 which exactly match in number, sizeand positions the bosses 42. With this arrangement, the lower member 24of the connector of the invention may be temporarily placed on top ofthe water stop strips 10, 12 as illustrated in FIG. 2 and a suitablemarking instrument, such as the pencil 46, may be used to mark intemplate fashion the location of openings which thereafter may be formedby a suitable punching or cutting tool in the respective ends of thewater stop material 10, 12. After the openings in the water stopmaterial have been punched out, it will then be apparent that the bossesand openings in the water stop material and in the lower member 24 ofthe connector will all register with each other with the bosses thusserving as a mechanical means for interconnecting the ends of the Waterstop material.

In use, where ends of two sections of water stop material are to beconnected together by the connector of the present invention, holes arefirst located and then formed in the ends of the material as abovedescribed. Thereafter all surfaces of the connector and of the waterstop material which are to be in contact with each other are coated withany known preferably pressure-sensitive cement and the members areassembled together with the upper member being preferably firstpositioned with the bosses projecting through the openings which havebeen formed in the ends of the water stop material as above explained.The lower member 24 is then assembled onto the bosses which desirablyare dimensioned to project slightly beyond the surface of the lower webpart 32 of the lower connector member 24 as illustrated in FIG. 3.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that applicants use of apair of separate but mating members sandwiching between them theconfronting ends of strips of water stop material eliminates all of theproblems associated with connecting the ends together by inserting theminto closed sleeves or sockets. Furthermore, by using separate matingconnector members, the parts of the connector and the water stopmaterial can all be properly aligned before the members are brought intocontact with each other, thus avoiding entirely the problems ofpremature bonding which can occur where two previously cemented membersare brought into premature contact with each other, as those skilled inthis art well recognize. In addition, by utilizing two mating members,mechanical connecting means such as the bosses 42 integral with one ofthe mating members may be moved down into mating openings formed intothe ends of the water stop material to provide a more secure bond thanwould be achieved merely by cement alone. Obviously where a sleeve typeconnector is employed mechanical connector elements of the type setforth hereinabove could not be employed.

In addition to connecting the ends of water stop strips arranged inend-to-end relationship, the connector of the invention is equallyuseful for connecting two or more strips which meet at angles to eachother. For example, where the end of one strip meets a second strip atright angles thereto, connector parts embodying the features of theinvention would be fabricated in a T shape or in an L shape depending onwhether the strips meet at their respective ends or perpendicularlyalong the length of one of them and where four strips meet the connectorwould be in the form of a cross. In like manner, strips may be arrangedvertically to meet in either aligned or angular relationship. In theformer case the illustrated connector would be employed but in thelatter case one or more side parts would join a main part alongintersecting vertical planes.

Regardless of configuration, each arm part would desirably be providedwith the described boss means which would be engageable with matingopenings formed on the spot in the adjacent water stop strip parts asabove described, and preformed in the corresponding arms of the matingconnector part.

The foregoing modifications and changes as well as 4 others may beresorted to without, however, departing from the scope and spirit of theappended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination with two strips of flexible rubbery water stopmaterial defining a joint between said strips, a connector for the endsof said strips comprising two complementary members having across-sectional configuration corresponding respectively to the contoursof the upper and lower faces of said strip material and engaging saidfaces on opposite sides of said joints, one of said members having aplurality of vertical bosses fixed to its engaging face with an equalnumber of said bosses being positioned on each side of said joint, saidother member and said strips having registering openings therethroughcorresponding in size, number and position to the bosses in said firstmember, said openings having said bosses received therein, and adhesiveover a substantial portion of the contacting surfaces of said connectormembers and said strip.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein the side edges of said connectormembers extend toward each other over the edges of said strips, saidedges of said connector members being spaced out of contact with eachother throughout the length thereof.

3. In combination with at least two strips of elongated flexible rubberywater stop material arranged with respect to each other so that the endof one strip is in close adjacency to a second strip to define a jointtherebetween, connector means for said strips comprising a pair ofconnector members each having -a cross-sectional configurationcomplementary with the opposed faces of said strips, respectively, saidmembers sandwiching therebetween in contacting relationship therespective upper and lower faces of said strips across said joint, oneof said connector members having on its engaging face verticallyextending boss means, the other of said connector members and saidstrips having opening means therethrough corresponding in number, sizeand position to the boss means on the first member, said boss meansregistering with and being received in said opening means, and adhesiveon the contacting faces of said connector members and said strips.

4. The combination of claim 3 wherein the side edges of said connectormembers extend toward each other over the edges of said strips, saidedges of said connector members being spaced out of contact with eachother throughout the length thereof.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,867,160 1/1959 Wangerow 94-182FOREIGN PATENTS 1,374,180 8/1964 France.

JACOB L. NACKENOFF, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 52396; 287l04

